Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1887-01-20
THE NEW SOUTH.
Address Of II. w. Grady Before the
New England Society
At the Foretathcrs' Dinner In New York
Eloquent Tributes to Abraham Lin
coin the Confederate Soldiers,
and the Restored Union.

speech OF Mr.. Henry w. Grady, OF Atlanta.
ga, delivered at the dinnePof the New En-
gland Society, given on Forefather'S Day at
Oelmonico's. in New York City:
There vas South OF secession and slavery
a1d freedom-that South is living, breathing.
growing every hour These words delivered
from the lips of Benjamin II. Hill in Tammany
Hail, IL 1Se6, make my text for tonight.
Pardon me one word, Mr. President. spoken
for the purpose of getting into the volumes shat
goout annually frelghted with the rich eloquence
Of your speakers-thS fact that the cavalier
well as the Puritan was on this consinent in its
early days and he was up and able TO be
about" 1 have read your books carefully, and
find no mention of thot fact, which seems TO
me important for preserving a sort of historical
equilibrium.
With the cavalier once established as a fact in
your charming little books shall let him work
out his own Salvation, as he has always done
with engaging gallantry, and we will hold no
controversy as to his merits why should WEI
Neither Puritan cavalier long survived
such. The virtues and traditions of both hap
PLY still live for the inspiration of their sons and
the saving OF the old fashion. Both Puritan and
cavalier were lost in the storm OF their first rev.
olution, and the American citizen, supplanting
both and stronger than either, took possession
Of the Republic bought by their common blood
aad fashioned in wisdom and charged himself
with teaching them free government and eStab-
nsning the voice of the people as the voice of
God. Great types, like valuable plants, are
slow TO flower and fruit. But from the union of
these oolonists, from the Strengthening OF their
purposes and the crossing of their blood, slow
stands as the first typical American, the first
who comprehended within himself all the
grace OF this Republc-Abraham Lincoln. He
was the sum of Puritan and cavalier for in his
and in the depth of his great soul the faults of
both were lost. He was greater than Puritan.
srea7er than cavalier in that he was American,
nd that in his honely form were first gathered
the vast and thrilling forces of this ideal gov
ernment, charging it with such tremendous
meaning and so elevating IL above human suf
fering that marty1dom, though UNANIMOUSLY
aimed. came as a fitting crown to life conse
rated from it's cradle to human liberty. Let
each cher1Sh1ng his TRADITIONS and hOnOring
his fathers, build with revereRt hands to the
type of this simple but sublime life, in which all
types are honored, and in the common glory
which shall win Americans, there will be
plenty and to spare for your forefathers and for
In speaking to the toast which you have hon
1red me 1 accept the terra 'sThe New South, as
in no sense disparaging TO the old. Dear to me-
sir, are the home of my childhood and the tradi-
tons of my peoples There is new South, not
dhrlf1gh protest against tho old but because OF
new conditions, new adjustments, and, If you
pleasefS.ew ideas and aspirations. 1t is to this
picture, if you can, the foot-Sore soldier, who
'buttoning up in his faded gray jacket the parole
which was taken, testimony to his children OF
ais fidelity and faith turned his face southwark
from AppomattoX in April 1865 Think OF him
bled by want and Wounds having fought to ex-
hauStion, he surre-lders his gum wringS the
hands or his comrades. and, lifting his tear
stained and pallidoface for the last time TIC the
graves that dot the old Virginia hills, pulls his
gray cap over his brow, and begins the slow and
painful Journey. What Goes he hnd-iet me ask
you, who went to your homes eager to find all
the welcome you had justly earned, full pay
menr for your four years saci1hce-what does
he find when he reaches the home he left four
years before? He finds his house in ruins, his
farm devastated his slaves freed his stock
killed, his barns empty, his trade destroyed his
money worthless, his social system, feudal in its
magnidcence, swept away, his people without
law or legal status his comrades slain, and the
hlrdens of others heavy his shoulders.
Crushed by defeat, his very traditions gone,
without money, credit, employment material
or training-and, besides all this, confronted
with the gravest problem that ever met human
no fah attn sHrr
the vast body of his liberated slaves.
What does he do1this hero in gray with
and despair? Not for a day. Surely God who
has scourged him in his prosperity, inspired him
in his adversely! AS ruin was never before so
overwhelming never was restoration sW1fter
The soldier stepped from the trenches into the
furrow; horses that had charged Federal guns
marched before the pillow, anC fields that ran red
with human blood in April We're green with the
their dresses and made brooches for their hus-
hands, and with a patience and Aeroism that fits
woman always as q garment. gave their hands
to work There was a little bitterness in au
this. CheerfulneSS and franlneSS prevailed.
Sill Arp struck the keynote when he said:
me. and now 1 am going to work, or the sol
some corn on the roadside. who made the re
mark to his comrades: You may leave the
South if you want to- but going to Sander
vile, kiss my wife Ecld raise a crop and if the
Yankees fool with IRE any more win whip 'em
again Iwant to say toGeneraGSsher who
Is,conSidered able man in our parts. though
some people think ne is a kind Cd careless man
about fire-that from the ashes LEFT in 1864
have raised IA brave and beautiful erty; that,
somehow other, We have caught the sunshine
in the bricks and mortar of our homes. and have
'builded therein not one single ignGrhe prejudice
srimemory.
But what is the SUM of our wczExe We have
found out that in the general summing up the
free negro counts more than he did as slave.
We have planted the school-house ON the hill
top, and made il free to white and BLACK We
have .sowed towns and cities in the place of
theories. and put business above politics We
have challenged your spinners in Massachusetts
PENNSYLVANIA e
have learned that the I'd coo, 600 annually re
sceived from, our cotton crop viii make us rich
when the supplies that make it are home
raised. We have rcdEcsed the commercial rate
of interest from twenty to six per cent, and
fiOating four ser cent. bonds. We have
learned that one Northern Immigrant US worth
fifty foreigners, and have smoothed the path to
the southwark, wiped oNt the place where
Mason and DiXon's line used TO be. and hung
our latch>string out to ySDa and yours. We have
reached the point that marks perfect harmony
in every household, when the husband e0nfesses
that the pes which his wife cooks are rs
good those his mother used to bake: and
we admit that the sun shines as brightly and
the moon ;as softly as 1t did "befaue the
war" Wehave established thrift in city and
saountry. We have fallen IN love with work We
have restored comfort TO homes from which
culture and elegance never departed We have
let economy take root and spread among KS as
rank the crab-syraSS which Sprang from SAer-
odds on the Georgia Yankee as he squeeses
pss olive oil cut of his cotton seed against any
down Easter that ever sw2nped wooden Eart-
uess for flannel sausages in JAe valleys of Yer
mont. Above all we know that'we have achiesed
in these piping times OF peace d fuller indie
pe71dence for the South than that which our
fathers sought TIC win in the forum by their els
GNerAae or compel on the fields by their sworCls-
II Il rare privilege, sir, to have had part
howeaer humble in this work. Never WAS
nobier duty confidead to human hands than the
up-bHAlding OF the PROSTATE and bleeding South
misguided. perhaps but beautiful in her suffer
ing ana honest, brave and generous always In
the record of her sosial, industrial and political
restoration await with confidence the verdict
of the world.
But what of the negro? Have We solved the
problem he presents or progressed in honor
and equity toward its solution, Let the record
speak tlhis point 10 section shows a more
prosperous population than the negnoes of the
South, none in fuller sympathy wiz the en-
ploying and land-owning class. He sAares our
Scf1la fr1r1d ~